Description

1966 Jerry Armstrong Game Worn Texas Western Jersey From Glory
Road Team. Only one year earlier, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s
march on Selma, Alabama in support of voting rights for the
African-American populace was repelled with tear gas, whips and
clubs as Jim Crow fought violently against its impending and
welcome demise. And yet here, on college basketball's greatest
stage, five young black ballplayers were taking the court to meet
the all-white powerhouse University of Kentucky Wildcats. Those
forty minutes of basketball would generate 40,000 pieces of hate
mail for Texas Western coach Don Haskins, and more than a dozen
threats upon his life. It would also immortalize the team from a
cash-strapped school in El Paso, Texas, and continue the work of
Jesse Owens, Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson in reshaping the way the
world viewed the black athlete.

Jerry Armstrong was the biggest white player on the racially
integrated team, both in physical stature and ability, a defensive
specialist favored by Haskins as muscle to counter physical post
play. But the team that stood between the Miners and a National
Championship on March 16, 1966 was one built for speed, a
heavily-favored Kentucky squad playfully nicknamed "Rupp's Runts"
for the diminutive size of the players fielded by Hall of Fame
coach Adolph Rupp. Haskins would later insist, as would the members
of his team, that the decision to field an entirely
African-American was due entirely to those players' ability to run
with the Runts, with no thought whatsoever to the historical
implications of the strategy.

With player provenance Heritage Auctions proudly presents the home
jersey worn by Armstrong during that fateful season. Constructed
out of durene material, the jersey radiates much like its day of
issue. "Texas 52 Western" is created on front in single-color
orange tackle twill with black anchor stitching while the reverse
has a simple "52" visible. Orange and black surrounds the neckline
and shoulder yokes and offers a source of aesthetics to this
enticing offering. Applied in the tail is a "Sand Knit" local
distributor manufacturer's label and suspended "[size] 42" flag
tag.

The team donned their road jerseys for the confrontation with
Kentucky in the title game and Armstrong was not active for game.
But for historical purposes, the jersey is beyond reproach. Those
Heritage bidders who were active in 2006 will recall our offering
of star sophomore guard Willie Worsley's jersey, and the research
undertaken by our cataloging team that included an interview with
student trainer Fred Schwake and sports information director Eddie
Mullens at our world headquarters here in Dallas. Schwake was with
the team from 1963 through 1967, and Mullens from 1962 through
1971, and each confirmed that this underfunded club had just one
white and one orange jersey for that season. And furthermore, they
assured us that these single jerseys were recycled for use each of
the years that they were there. The team never got new jerseys.

The offered jersey is offered with a signed letter from Willie
Cager which further states: "My name is Willie Cager and I was a
player on the 1966 Texas Western Miners NCAA Championship Team.
Jerry Armstrong's 1966 Home Jersey. I took this jersey from our
locker room as a match for the jersey worn in the championship
game. It is white in color and bears #52. It has been in my
possession since 1966. I guarantee the originality and the
authenticity of the jersey." LOA from Heritage Auctions.